


The Dark Side of the Moon

by Alexa_Piper



Series: Ectober 2020 [4]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Ectober (Danny Phantom), Ectober Week 2020 (Danny Phantom), Gen, Ghostly Obsession, Obsession, Space obsessed Danny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27246556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexa_Piper/pseuds/Alexa_Piper
Summary: Danny finally lets his core take control. How bad can it be?After all, he's always wanted to be an astronaut.
Series: Ectober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983812
Comments: 8
Kudos: 122





	The Dark Side of the Moon

If he’s truly honest with himself, Danny doesn’t know why it’s taken him so long.  
His core swells with the sweet giddiness of exhilaration as he swoops low enough to brush his fingers through the dust. They leave a wonky trail, and he almost feels bad for leaving a mark on this untouched surface, but his core presses the thought away and the next thing he knows he’s flopped onto the ground and is rolling in the grey dirt like an excited toddler.  
He laughs in delight, but with the vacuum of the almost non-existent atmosphere, he hears nothing but the dull wheeze of vibration that manages to travel through his skull. Maybe he should have bothered to wear a spacesuit, or even just a rebreather, but his core had hummed that nothing should come between Danny and his dream and he’d listened.  
Moon dust is stuck to his face and Danny laughs again, rubbing it away from his eyes and rolling onto his back.  
Earth, beautiful in its blues and greens with the occasional splash of brown and swirls of white clouds, crouches in the lunar sky. He can feel its hooks beneath his skin. Faint flutters of urgency press for attention, reminding him that he’s been gone for weeks, and anything could have happened since then.  
Danny’s core pushes back. Earth has plenty of good ghost hunters. They’ll be fine for the duration of his extraterrestrial excursion.  
He watches the Earth for a while longer before floating back off the moon’s surface. Phasing the dust off, he checks the Sun’s position in the sky. He’s on the near side of the moon right now, facing the Earth. He’ll explore as much as he can, following the Sun’s path until he’s done an entire loop of the satellite. He’ll have been here for a month by then, and then he’ll skip briefly to Mars before going back home. Hopefully after that his core will stop screaming for him to fly away in the middle of the night to be the first person to stand on Mars or the far side of the moon.  
He gleefully rises another foot or so above the ground, looking in each direction before picking one at random. So long as he stays in the sunlight, he’ll be able to keep track of things. Right?  
… He still thinks so. Even after exploring for at least a month, he’s sure that by the next crater, by the next maria, by the next plateau, his core will finally be satisfied.  
Earth has disappeared from sight plenty of times, and whenever he can’t see it, those tenterhooks of duty feel like they loosen ever so slightly. He still knows it’s there, and that once he’s finished exploring, he can go back. So it’s fine… right?  
He settles into yet another crater, running his hands over the ridges in the side with a touch so light that it might as well have been intangible. After rolling around that first time, he’s left no other marks of his presence except a single footprint alongside each of the American flags left by the Apollo missions. The flags themselves are bleached white, colours long since gone thanks to the sun’s radiation, but his core hums that it’s better that way. The moon shouldn’t belong to anyone. It’s far too beautiful for that.  
Besides, it’s not like anyone else has stayed here for long. If anyone could claim ownership of the moon, it should be him, since he’s technically lived here for… weeks? That doesn’t sound right, but Danny’s sure it can’t be more than that. He knows he needs to leave soon, so he can fly to Mars and take a look around before going back to Earth, but he can’t seem to stop himself from moving to the next ridge in the crater wall. It’s just too perfect! He needs to see it all.  
… The bottom of the same crater is in darkness, sunlight cut off by the height of its rim, and Danny’s once again grateful that he glows as he descends to inspect the floor. Every single stone must be memorised, every crack and speck of sand adored. The moon deserves all that and more.  
Danny’s core hums. He briefly wonders if he’s forgotten something, but the contented song of his obsession being fulfilled hushes the thought before it can take root. He’s barely scratched the surface of this exploration, and the gentle peace of spending time in such a perfect place pulls him deeper into contentment.  
In the sky above the crater, the Earth slowly sinks to kiss the rim, and then silently slips out of view.


End file.
